Waterdown

The former Victorian Village of Waterdown was amalgamated into the City of Hamilton in 2001. Located a considerable distance from the downtown core of the city, this area has close ties to its surrounding rural countryside. Balancing historic charm with new commercial developments, its BIA boundaries are the largest in the city.

Its population is highly educated, and among the highest income-earners in the city, with an average median household income of $97,179, and with 52% of citizens having completed some form of postsecondary training. Drawing on 2011 census data, the age of its citizens shows a population at all stages of life, but with 26% under the age of 18, Waterdown is home to many young families. The most commonly spoken non-official languages include Italian, Polish, German, Dutch, and Spanish.

Quantitative Data

The first phase of the Expressing Vibrancy project took stock of the physical attributes, functional features and community assets in each neighbourhood through the collection of tombstone data – an inventory of the characteristics of an area that tend not to change significantly over time. Features such as trees, bus stops, public art, community signage, and urban braille – 38 asset types in total – were counted, recorded, and reviewed over the course of 12 weeks. This initial inventory was rounded out by data from the City of Hamilton’s cultural planning research, as well as statistical data provided by the Centre for Community Study. This inventory was then averaged over a city-block distance to create a comparable model between neighbourhoods, adjusting for disparities in geographic size.

Click here to view category definitions and to download raw data.

Natural Elements

Trees

Baskets

Planters

Green Space (800m)

Air Quality

Data not available.

Diversity

Ethnic Centres

Languages Spoken

Creative Sector Diversity

Zoning Mix

Ethnic Businesses and Indicators

Creative Engagement

Creative Businesses

Public Facilities

Art in Public Spaces

Social Spaces (800m)

Festivals & Events (800m)

Access to Information

Commercial Information

Community Information

Neighbourhood Signage

Safety Signage

Urban Design

Vacant Buildings

Heritage Buildings

Accessibility

Garbage/Recycling

Street Furnishings

Walk/Ride/Drive

Qualitative Data

Following the collection of quantitative data in each neighbourhood, the study aimed next to capture a range of subjective impressions, opinions, and feelings from individuals exploring each area. Volunteers – 230 in total – from a diversity of socio-economic brackets, ages, and ethnic backgrounds toured each neighbourhood on consistent days of the week and times of the day to ensure comparable experiences were recorded. Observations were limited to what could be experienced from the vantage of a pedestrian. This layer of data collection noted the diversity of responses to elements in the urban environment, with particular attention given to how members of various demographic groups related to certain elements, and how that influenced their sense of the space.

“Describe the energy of the street.”

"Lively people walking about doing their errands. Traffic moving well."

"Very few pedestrians on Dundas St. Lots of activity at the Hamilton strip malls. (Friday night shopping.) Action at the pubs (Royal Coachman and Turtle Jacks). Martial arts studio was very busy. The energy was mostly auto-centric."

"The streets around here seem to say "stop for a while and enjoy the scenery."

"Too busy, too many cars coming through town."

"Vibrant, welcoming. Pedestrian friendly."

"Lots of moving traffic and people."

"Quiet, plenty of vehicle traffic, not a lot of foot traffic. Hamilton Street is much less inviting. More traffic but was filled with big box stores and everything was set far back from street."

"Not much people energy due to time of day. Therefore, energy is diluted by heavy flow of traffic."